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being squeezed out of the market at a pace not seen in decades— perhaps since the national commercial driver’ s license was introduced in 1992.

“ We look at it like an ecosystem,” Frank Lonegro, CEO of truckload carrier Landstar System, said of the data center market during an earnings call in July.“ Building products has got a piece of it, energy has got a piece of it, machinery got a piece of it.”

Landstar, with its open-deck and platform trailer business, has a piece of it, too.

“ We continue to see strong demand in that space and a continuing need for additional capacity,” Lonegro said. There’ s been no hint of a“ pullback” in demand, he added.

LTL terminal capacity remains below its pre-Yellow peak in 2022. Bilanol / Getty Images

Opposition shifting centers

Growing political opposition to data centers, in the US and worldwide, may also slow the buildout’ s impact. S & P Global, the parent company of the Journal of Commerce, reports there have been nearly 300 bans or moratoriums on new data centers in the US.

Those bans, however, may simply shift data centers to different locations.

“ We’ re now talking about rural destinations for 70 % of data centers,” Prather said.“ North Dakota is taking every data center that Minnesota is blocking right now.”

Data center demand, despite that growing opposition, remains strong enough to sideline other types of construction, Prather told the Journal of Commerce.“ Most construction companies have their capacity locked up until 2028 or 2029,” he said.

“ Data center equipment providers are competing for open-deck capacity against construction, energy, and heavy manufacturing shippers at the same time,” said TA Dedicated’ s Suedbeck, adding that competition will broaden and become more intense.

“ Right now is the peak construction wave, which is where the flatbed pressure concentrates,” she said, noting once construction is complete,“ then the market shifts toward equipping and scaling,” installing components such as server racks.

“ The freight mix changes, but the volume does not disappear,” Suedbeck said.

Diversion of trucks to data center construction has a direct and indirect effect on truck capacity. First, it takes capacity away from other sectors, such as retail. Second, it sends trucks to locations that make it difficult for subsequent users to access them.

“ It’ s dislocating that capacity by sending it to destinations like North Dakota,” Prather said.“ We need to get the truck back to somewhere that it can pick up its next load.”

That next load may go straight back to the construction site.

“ If I wanted to really make money in trucking, I’ d go and do heavy haul for the next four years,” DAT’ s Croke said.

email: bill. cassidy @ spglobal. com

US LTL carriers expanding networks, but still playing catch-up with lost capacity

By Bill Cassidy

The land-lust that gripped the less-than-truckload( LTL) sector after the collapse of Yellow in 2023 has lessened, but it isn’ t gone. LTL companies are still buying, building and upgrading terminals to fill network gaps.

The pace of acquisition and expansion may not be as frenetic as it was following Yellow’ s bankruptcy, which put about 320 terminals on the market. But the rush to build freight network density continues.

Tennessee-based regional LTL provider Averitt in July opened a new 33-door facility in Tulsa, Okla., replacing an older, smaller terminal. The amount of dock space available in Tulsa jumped from 3,500 square feet to 16,800 square feet, according to Averitt.

“ As our customers continue to grow, it is important that our network grows with them,” Barry Blakely, president and COO at Averitt, said in a statement. The new Tulsa terminal didn’ t increase Averitt’ s terminal count, but it expanded its network footprint.

AAA Cooper Transportation, the LTL subsidiary of Knight-Swift Transportation Holding Co., added four terminals in May, including sites in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.

14 Journal of Commerce | September 7, 2026 www. joc. com